IDC: Global PC monitor shipments hit a 9-year high in 2021
According to IDC, global PC monitor shipments in 2012 were 150.3 million units, and in 2021 this figure will be 143.6 million units, the best level in nine years. While shipments were strong in the first half of 2021, with a staggering 19.4% year-on-year growth in shipments, the weak performance in the second half of the year undermined this momentum, leaving full-year growth at 5%. The growth rate of monitor shipments in mature markets has slowed, but demand in emerging regions has caught up with backlogs, stimulating sales. In addition, global monitor demand from the commercial market also offset weak performance in some consumer markets.
However, while the supply of monitor components has improved in 2021, parts of the supply chain in Asia remain in lockdown, while global freight rates remain high. These two problems are also expected to continue in 2022, so IDC gave a forecast of 3.6% year-on-year growth in 2022.
“2021 marked the end of the longest run for monitors, which saw an uninterrupted growth spurt from 2018 to 2021,” said Jay Chou, research manager for IDC’s Worldwide Client Devices Trackers. “Whether it was businesses refreshing PCs and monitors as they moved towards Windows 10 or the pandemic pivot towards work from home, these developments gave a much-needed boost to what had been a staid industry. However, we now see growing saturation, inflationary pressures from the pandemic and the Ukrainian crisis further accelerating an already cooling environment in 2022, when we expect monitor shipments to shrink 3.6% and then stabilize after.”
Among the top 5 monitor companies in the world, only Dell, Lenovo, and Samsung maintained positive growth in shipments, while TPV and HP saw their shipments decrease by 13.6% and 18.5% respectively.
